Dear all,

 

A severely truncated newsletter this week I'm afraid as I had to go to hospital with my kidney stones on Monday and I am feeling a bit shall we say......uncomfortable... at the moment. Still, the pain will be mitigated because as a birthday present, my in-laws have sent me one of Marcus Borg's earlier books - "Meeting Jesus again for the first time". As I have said before I think Marcus is a fantastic writer and I hope that he will be looked back on in decades to come as one of the most important Christian thinkers and writers who helped to reform and re-shape the  church in the world.   

 

Two big surprises. One was the weather! It started snowing just as I left to go to Winston and by the time we got out of the service at Gainford it looked like a blizzard. Second surprise was the baptism in the service at Gainford. I was expecting a couple of dozen people...and a hundred and fifty people (!) turned up with lots of youngsters in tow! I now see why they issue church wardens with those big sticks.............

Before then, last Thursday, it was a pleasure to preside at a funeral at Ingleton church - my first visit there and it was good to meet the wardens on home turf. A lovely compact church. Robin Pease, one of the wardens, asked me if I have given up the "Lighter side" feature for Lent. The answer is no (see below) 

 

 

Tonight - February the 24th - Churches together in Barnard Castle hold the first in their series of study evenings starting at 7.30 in the United Reform church in Hall street. The title tonight is "Women in Luke's gospel" given by Revd Ruth Gee (Chairman of the Methodist circuit)

 

Thursday - the 25th of February -Two things at opposite ends of the Deanery. In Gainford at 7.30 in St. Osmund's parish centre. An ecumenical meeting looking at Bishop Tom's reflections so far led by the Methodist minister.  

And at Middleton - in - Teesdale school (Ground floor) Upper Teesdale churches together also run a "Big read" evening starting at 7pm.

 

The lighter side! Some more wit and wisdom from Stephen Wright;

 

*Ambition is a poor excuse for not having the sense to be lazy

*Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have

*O.K. - so what is the speed of dark?

*I intend to live for ever. So far, so good!

*Boycott shampoo. Demand the real poo.

*For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

 

You may not know Reverend John Pridmore, but he is a wonderful insightful priest from the more catholic end of the spectrum. He has been writing for the Church Times for many years and his regular columns are sorely missed my me. Now retired he still contributes to the Church Times. Honesty is his trademark. Recently he visited the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. A kingdom some of us knew simply because it famously talks in terms of "Gross domestic happiness" rather than Gross domestic product. This tiny kingdom obviously had a great affect on him. He says that he found there the closest thing he has ever experienced to the kingdom of God on earth. What intrigues him is that this has been achieved without even the slightest influence of Christianity. He just posed the question - why is this? On the same day he commented on how bus passengers in Brighton were more polite than in other parts of the country.

 

He noted last week that the result was a mailbag full of indignant letters furiously protesting that their part of the country was just as polite as those in Brighton. On the question of Bhutan........an eerie silence.

 

I'd say he got his answer!

 

The Prayer for today is usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi and is a manifesto for the Christian life.

 

 

Love and peace,

 

Martin